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Hi All.

Just wondering how some of you handle the fret board extension regarding when you install the frets?

Do you wait until you have glued in the neck or do you do it before neck installation?

I am on number 39 and was just curious how others did it

Thanks

Rick Gunn

I have started to finish the fretting on the guitar. I have found I can address the fretboard making it perfect so the action is as good as I can make if .
I use a clamp to address the frets on the extension and tap them in on the neck

For my first two, I put in all the frets before installing the neck on the guitar. With this third one I'm doing, I had to pull the frets the fingerboard extension because they were causing a downward curve in the extension that was interfering with fitting the neck. I'll put them back in after the neck is installed.
I'm a bit unsure how I'll put them in. When I first did it, I used a radiused Delrin caul and pressed them in, but I can't do that now.

What I do is use a c clamp and I can press them in.
Not that hard . I put 2 in at a time using glue in the slots for lube they slip in easy and I work them in one side to another.
Once I am on the heel I just tap them in with a small cobblers chasing hammer

John,
I'm at a decision point on this exact subject. My first 2, I put the frets in following your method on YouTube, but I somehow missed the quick tip on flattening the fingerboards with clamps. Have you ever accidentally cracked a fingerboard doing that? I put too much work into making them, and I'm still a little uneasy about fretting after installing the neck even though I see the benefits.

V/R
Ken

It may be worth noting that John "Blues Creek Guitars" sells fretwire of various tang thicknesses. When the time comes to replace the frets on the fingerboard extension, I'll use a fret with a thinner tang than I used originally. (Assuming the fret profile is the same as the frets I used originally....) That should eliminate, or at least greatly reduce, the problem of the extension curving downward because of the fret pressure.

Aside from that, a thinner tang will make installation easier.

I've fretted both ways, both before installing the neck on the guitar, and after. I've found that although I've leveled the fretboard after installing it on the neck, but before setting the neck, I always need to tweak it once installed on the guitar. So, I install the fretboard on the uninstalled neck and I level it. I install the neck and level the board again, on the guitar. Then I fret.

I've found I have fewer problems this way.